Woman killed by hit-and-run driver

By
LAVENTILLE \\\\\ Gyasi Gonzales gyasi.gonzales@trinidadexpress.com

A hearing-impaired woman was struck and then run over by a man speeding in a Nissan Navara pick-up along Pashley Street, Laventille on Friday evening.

The victim was identified as 54-year-old Linda Peters.

Relatives said the incident happened around 6.15 p.m. while Peters was walking up Picton Road heading to her home.

Relatives said she saw the van approaching her and got out of its way by standing in a neighbour’s yard, but the driver of the pick-up lost control and hit her.

They said the way she fell, “she ended up at the back of the van”.

The driver then reversed the vehicle over her and crushed her small frame, following which he sped out of the area, hitting three other cars that had been parked at the bottom of Picton Road.

A female relative, who spoke to reporters but did not want to be identified, said: “He could have stopped and picked her up. I mean, other people would have come out and beat him, but he would not have died.”

She explained that the van initially hit Peters in her knees but, “He reversed to come back out on the road and they said her hands and feet were beating up under the tyres.”

She said had Peters been taken to hospital sooner she may have lived.

The relative said Peters, throughout most of her life, lived at Lady Hochoy Home for people with disabilities and, even after leaving left there years ago, she still volunteered her time to the Home and assisted employees and other people with disabilities.

“The man that did this real heartless, boy,” she stated.

She said a neighbour rushed Peters to Port of Spain General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.